According to the monitoring reports by APK-Inform Agency, for 8 running seasons Turkey was the main market for Russian sunflower seed, but in the first half of 2018/19 MY the country reduced the imports to the minimum level for 10 recent years.
In October 2018, Russia shipped the single cargo lot of the oilseed the country, which totaled 232 tonnes only. At the same time, in September-February last season the shipments of sunflower seed of Russian origin to Turkey totaled 21 thsd tonnes, and for the first 6 months of 2016/17 MY — 66 thsd tonnes.
According to APK-Inform analysts, reorientation of Turkish importers towards purchasing of the Ukrainian oilseed became one of the major reasons for the situation development.
So, in September-February of 2018/19 MY Turkey imported nearly 36 thsd tonnes of sunflower seed from Ukraine (1.3 thsd tonnes in the same period last season). For the first time since 2012/13 MY, Turkey became the absolute leader in the rating of countries-importers of the Ukrainian oilseed.
